X5PlatBronze

I turned in my 2013 Mercedes late last year for a new 2015 C300 4MATIC. I was drawn to the car because of its revised interior and Mercedes' reputation for build quality.

Unfortunately, I started experiencing issues with my C300 from almost day one. Matters became worse by the dealers' inability to address these issues and the lack of transparency and poor customer service from the MBUSA Case Manager and Regional Office.

Here are some of the issues:

---Significant suspension noise when turning steering and driving at low speeds - vehicle has been at the dealership several times but no resolution. The last repair was to replace shocks. Dealer said they can't do anything further as they are not getting support from MBUSA.
---Defective grill – required grill replacement within a couple days of delivery.
---Cruise control not disengaging when brake is depressed – nearly causing collisions on 3 occasions
---Misaligned rear bumper - makes a weird sound when you touch the right side
---Significant wind noise – three adjustments completed. Dealer says there is no fix from MBUSA
---Noisy and squeaky brakes (from day one) with repeated attempts to repair but no resolution.

I have contacted MBUSA repeatedly but they have refused to address the issue or provide specifics on how they plan to remedy the situation (especially the suspension problem). In my final communication, I asked them to buyback or replace the car - they refused. Instead, they sent me a letter asking me not to contact their Customer Assistance Center or offices. The shocking thing is the letter made no single mention on how they intend to address the numerous quality and safety issues plaguing my $52,000 C300 - particularly the suspension.

Honestly, this is appalling for a luxury brand (particularly the self described "the best or nothing"). How can a customer have quality and safety issue and they refuse to remedy the situation and leave me in the dark? I really want out of this car right now. I'm totally disappointed. I wish I did not get into this car. My car was a November 2014 build.

I'm currently contemplating my next steps.

chicagofan00

Wow, sucks to hear such issues and such a lack of caring or response from both the dealership and MBUSA. Although I can't say their response surprises me it does suck to hear it continue to go on like this. Really surprised the MBUSA has asked you to no longer contact their customer service...were you rude or disrespectful at any time to cause this?

chicagofan00

Btw, you can continue to bring it to the dealership and if they keep finding nothing wrong or unable to fix the issues you may eventually be able to pursue lemon law in your state depending upon the local laws. I know here in Arizona the car has to be in service for more than 30 days or if the dealership cannot fix a safety hazard after four attempts.

StanNH

Check with your state's AG office and see what is needed to initiate a Lemon Law case. Here, it's 30 cumulative business days out of service, or 3 failed attempts to fix a warranty issue. If you qualify, your state will mediate a settlement between you and MB-USA.

BlackjackM

Post a scan of that letter.

KDD896

Make a youtube video like the one guy did for his 911, no company likes bad press.It is a sad state of affairs that we live in that the only way to get something done is through legal means or making the company look so bad in the public view that they respond to cover their *** also try contacting your local tv stations to do a investigative piece on you .

solarflare

Have you try another dealership? It may be just this one incompetent.

MASSC450

I hope this lousy MB dealership is not in Massachusetts...



I'm also very disappointed in MBUSA if that was really their response to a customer.

StanNH

That's a really extreme response to any customer, but none of us know what happened here. MB-USA must have felt their response was appropriate, if that's what was actually stated, but why?

MASSC450

I've never heard of a large corporation ever stating to a customer to never contact them again. The response they usually give instead is something along the lines of "Sorry we were not able to help you at this time"...or nothing at all.

Stimpgsx

Im curious, Have you driven another c300? Some of the things you describe can be specific to the model and not just your car. I have a c400 and have had noisy brakes when the car is cold and im backing up. They swaped the pads and its good now. Ive had a noise coming from the front end ( airmatic suspension) and they replaced a part of it. Its a new model vehicle so certain bugs always come with a new model. Aside from the cruise control issue I dont see any of your issues being such that the lemon law would apply and some of them might actually be how the car operates. A friend of mine who is a service manager at Porsche once told me that sometimes the car is not the issue but the owner is. Its about getting them to accept how the vehicle actually is and adjust their expectations and in a sense he was right. I had a 911 turbo a few years back and the engine was noisy as crap. It had a whine to it. I took it to 4 dealers and got porsche involved and all said it was normal operating noises. In the end they pulled same model vehicles and some had the same noise to a lesser degree and some just as loud as mine. Eventually I got an exhaust and never paid attention to it again. Moral of the story , learn to live with it or trade it in and move on.

juwivive

I'd use the power of social media against them. Scan the letter where they say not to contact them and post it on their Twitter and Facebook pages. There's no excuse for writing something like that to a customer who's spent more than $50K on a new car.

I would also make sure that you've got everything written down, with dates and a description of circumstances, together with MB's responses. Then I'd contemplate getting a lawyer involved.

StanNH

Yeah, this seems to be one step short of a restraining order.

MASSC450

And this is exactly why you don't usually hear/read large corporations responding negatively...so I find MBUSA's supposed response of "Don't contact us again" puzzling, even if the OP was rude to them.

hyperion667

sounds like an intense load of horse dung, I really hope you can get this resolved to your liking, them asking you to not contact them again is absurd! !

X5PlatBronze

I was quite shocked to receive the letter in the mail. Apparently, they were not happy with my repeated calls and emails about the problems with my car. The dealer kept replacing parts in the car and none of the repairs fixed the issues. While the dealer verified and acknowledged these issues, MBUSA would downplay the severity. This was not acceptable to me for a $52K luxury car. Just for some background, I traded in a 2013 Mercedes for this C300. My previous MB was rock solid with no problems.


I'm glad not to contact their Customer Assistance Center again. It is pretty simple - they should take my car back and I will go buy a BMW or Audi. I'm sure BMW, Audi or Lexus will gladly take my business.

X5PlatBronze

The brake and bumper issue have been widely reported. The suspension noise has been verified by two dealers as NOT normal noise. This is not a question of whether it is normal or not. Two shop foremen from different MB dealerships drove the car and said it is not a normal characteristic of the vehicle. Why would they start replacing parts if it is normal? Btw- I had a loaner C300 last week and the noise was not present in my loaner.

Vihzel

The impression that I've been getting with reading member's interactions with MBUSA is that is that it's the customer vs. MBUSA and not MBUSA working to do what's best for the customer. It's really concerning to me.

Settthhh

Really sorry about your car :/

Seems like a lemon, sucks that you've wasted your personal time and energy on this, I hope something works out for you.

ManiacGT

You should publish the letter online. Find a car online magazine and see if they are interested in the story.

chicagofan00

I agree, might be time to take the fight to social media now and use the power of the internet. Tweet the letter out to MB, MBUSA, online auto mags like AutoBlog, AutoWeb, C&D, MotorTrend, etc. With enough persistence you'll garner the attention of someone high up in MBUSA to take a closer look at your case.

StanNH

This isn't something as cut and dry as the MB-Tex issue, where everyone could see an obvious issue and was waiting for a response and fix.

We have one side of the issue here and, regardless of how irate the OP may be, we have no idea what the status of the complaints are in relation to either the dealer or MB-USA. Has the dealer simply given up trying to fix the suspension problems, or are parts on order for another attempt at a solution? The dealer doesn't need MB-USA for warranty work, so it's unlikely that they would have told the dealer to deny the repair.

What would an online car magazine do with something like this? Before publishing anything, they'd have to investigate the OP's claims and get a response from either the dealer involved or MB-USA ... or both. It may very well be that the handling of the warranty claims was badly done, but we really don't know that. If, in fact, the dealer failed three times at an attempt to resolve the suspension problem, there are grounds for a legitimate Lemon Law case and arbitration. If not, the law defines how many unsuccessful fixes, and for how much time, a car can be in for warranty work.

No one, except the OP and the other parties involved, know what has gone on here ... and what actions prompted such an extreme and unusual reaction from MB-USA.

ManiacGT

You would expect the magazine to do all due diligence obviously.

chicagofan00

+1.

BlackjackM

Still haven't seen this letter.....